The Belgaum Chamber of Commerce and Industries (BCCI) has come out against the indiscriminate disposal of foundry waste sand by some of the units in Belgaum.
BCCI honorary secretary Panchakshari Chonnad said in a release on Monday that the chamber had received complaints against foundry units’ disposing of waste sand on roadsides and open fields.
As per the guidelines issued by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), waste sand should be disposed of at the sand reclamation plants set up at the foundry cluster in Udyambag Industrial Area here.
Inspection
However, some units were not observing those guidelines, the farmers said.
The units had not obliged any requests made during the awareness programmes in this regard. BCCI urged KSPCB to inspect the disposal of the waste sand.
Fees
Foundry cluster Technical Manager N.M. Khatib told The Hindu that four such reclamation units were in operation at the foundry cluster. Depending on the type of waste produced by foundry units, a fee between Rs. 500 and Rs. 2,200 a tonne is charged by the reclamation units, to reclaim sand from the waste.
Mr. Khatib said the inflow of waste had come down because of various reasons, such as the State government’s new sand policy to control illegal mining.
Administrative Manager of the foundry cluster S.M. Kale told The Hindu that the management of the foundry units had been repeatedly requested not to dump solid waste on road sides or open fields, as it violates environmental norms and guidelines issued by the KSPCB.
Protecting resources
There are nearly 140 foundry units here, most of them located in the Udyambag Industrial Area.
These units have been asked to send their waste to the reclamation units, so that they could reclaim and reuse sand, thus protecting natural resources. “If our members are not conforming to environmental norms, we will insist that the KPSCB take strict legal action,” he said.
